Australian GDP rose 0.8% in the December 2013 quarter

AUSTRALIA’S economy grew by 0.8 per cent in the December quarter, official figures show.

Gross domestic product (GDP) growth through 2013 was 2.8 per cent, in seasonally adjusted terms, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) said on Wednesday.

GDP was expected to rise by 0.7 per cent in the December quarter for an annual rate of 2.5 per cent, according to an AAP survey of 12 economists.

The December quarter growth follows a 0.6 per cent rise in GDP for the September quarter.

Household spending rose 0.8 per cent in the December quarter and was up 2.6 per cent over the year to December, seasonally adjusted. Total investment in housing rose 1.0 per cent in the quarter to be up 1.4 per cent in the year to December.

Total gross fixed capital formation, investment by households, businesses and government, fell 1.2 per cent in the quarter and was down 2.4 per cent over the year.

Domestic final demand, a measure of total spending in the economy, rose 0.1 per cent in the quarter and was up 1.2 per cent over the year.

A key measure of inflation, the implicit price deflator for household final consumption, was up 0.8 per cent in the December quarter, from a rise of 0.9 per cent in the previous quarter, and was up 2.7 per cent over the year.

Farm GDP, in chain volume measures, rose 0.8 per cent in the December quarter to be up 12.2 per cent in the 12 months to December.